A simple ragu of wild mushrooms was one of the recipes on the saute station back in the day when I was working at the now-closed Trattoria Da Vinci under Chef Angelo Volpicelli. Angelo was super talented, barely spoke English, and had owned his own restaurant in Rome for 12 years. Twelve years is a…
Leccinum / Scaber Stalk
Jaegerschnitzel with Leccinum Gravy and Acorn Spaetzle
The snow is quickly melting, and I’ve been working hard to use up my stores of 2018 preserves. I have a lot of mushrooms and game (mostly venison), but, it was a great year for acorns too-I discovered a new white oak that gave the best acorns I’ve had yet. Thinking of how I could…
Slippery Jack Coffee Rub
Come the end of fall It’s getting colder, the mushrooms are fewer and farther between and alot of times I’m just hoping not to get skunked. When the blewits, hens, shaggy’s, puffballs or parasols aren’t playing nice, I know I can probably run over to a patch of pine trees and grab a few slippery…
Bison Stew with Dried Bolete Mushrooms and Coffee
The good part about the dead of winter is that I can run all the heavy stuff the line cooks like to make, or as we call it: fat kid food. Braised meats galore, pastas layered with cheese, sausage and breadcrumbs, different types of lasagna, ragus of beans and smoked meat, sauces made with…
Scaber Stalk-Gruyere Fritters
Crispy on the outside, cheesy, and mushroomy on the inside, these fritters are simple to make, and can be cooked a number of ways besides frying. In a nutshell, they’re just basic pate aux choux dough with a duxelles of scaber stalk mushrooms and some cheese mixed in. Scaber stalks, a.k.a Leccinum mushrooms have a…
Hot Beef Commercial, With Dried Bolete Mushrooms
Childhood food memories, everyone has some, those dishes that take you back in time. A hot beef commercial is one of mine. It reminds me of being a kid, about waist high on my Father. My dad and I would make trips back and forth to Willmar Minnesota from Grove City where the family…
The Yellow Leccinum Mushroom: Boletus / Leccinum Subglabripes
Throughout my experience hunting mushrooms in Minnesota, I can definitely say I have seen a greater variety of boletes than any other mushroom. There are a ton of different species though, and they can be difficult to identify. Their colors may shift and change with age, after being cut or bruised, yellow can turn to…